146 U. S. BUREAU OF FISHERIES. 



more extended data than any heretofore furnished. That it is an 

 understatement of the amount of sahnon actually captured and used 

 on the river is obvious from the following considerations : 



1. The lower river was canvassed from the 1st to the 15th of 

 August, and there w^as a later run of " silvers " of limited extent, of 

 which the figures give no account. A message from Holy Cross, 

 dated September 15, indicated a medium run of " silvers " for some 

 three weeks after that point was passed. The still later run of 

 eohos is also not included in the estimates. 



2. No clue could be obtained as to the number of salmon eaten 

 fresh during the season, but this must be a considerable item. 



3. None of the tributaries of the Yukon were visited, with the 

 exception of the Tanana below Nenana, yet some of these, like the 

 Innoko, the Koyukuk, the Porcupine, and the Stewart, are im- 

 portant streams. The natives in these regions draw on the rivers for 

 their supply of dried salmon, and the white prospectors and miners 

 out on the creeks may obtain their dog feed from the very spawning 

 beds. To what extent spawning beds are invaded for this purpose 

 is not known, but from reports that have been received it would 

 seem probable the figures may reach dimensions of some local 

 importance. 



On the Yukon River, from the mouth to Dawson, 97 native fish 

 camps w^ere observed, each of which contained from 1 to 15 families. 

 Three hundred and seventy families were listed, who were engaged 

 in fishing, but the matter was sometimes obscure and the number of 

 families may have been somewhat greater than this. The natives 

 operated 166 wheels, in addition to the short gill nets of the lower 

 river, which were not enumerated. The dried salmon put up by 

 them amounted approximately to 350 tons, or nearly 1 ton to each 

 known family. Many families had less than this amount, but others 

 compensated for the deficiency by harvests of 3, 4, or even 5 tons. 

 The younger generation gives promise of being more i^rovident than 

 the old. Some of them put up large surplus stocks for sale and 

 carry over fish from one season to the next. There is some ap- 

 parently well-founded complaint that sufficient care is not always 

 given to curing the salmon, so that in rainy seasons like 1920 large 

 stocks may be offered for sale which are rendered almost worthless 

 by mold and decay. One Jai)anese fisherman operated a wheel on 

 the river and put up 1,200 pounds. 



There were 76 white fishing camps, usually with a single w^hite man 

 in a camp, but in a few instances two white men were working in 

 partnership, or a white man in conjunction with natives. There 

 were 91 white men in all, and they prepared approximately 190 tons 

 of dried fish. 



On the Tanana River below Fairbanks there w^ere 24 native fishing 

 camps, operating 24 fish wheels and containing approximately 30 

 tons of salmon. There w^ere also 26 white fishing camps, with 34 

 wheels and some 52 tons of salmon. 



Altogether, on the Yukon and the Tanana, 301 fish wheels were 

 operated in 1920 and resulted in a take of 622 tons. Of this amount 

 8 per cent were king salmon and 92 per cent were chums. If an 

 allowance of 100 tons is made for the tributaries not visited and for 

 the later runs on the Yukon which were not seen — and this allowance 



